Shrinker Stretcher

[mrpat]

Anyone ever have any fun with a shrinker stretcher? What have you made with them? Any pointers or tips?

I'm new to this tool and looking for some inspiration.

I got a set for Christmas and just now finished making a stand with foot pedals for them. In the process of painting the stand so it will be rust free and prettier.

Thanks!
Pat

 

[SAT]

Nice job.
Fenders, chain guard and exhaust heat shield. I don't remember who posted a thread on this, cattailhaas? Maybe FOMOGO will see this, he made his shrinker/stretcher and uses it.
I started with 20-24 gauge 1008 steel with ours.
You might as well make room for a stump, a baseball bat hammer, and a shot bag. I'm starting work on those three tools for our shop next week.
Hope this helps,
Steve

 

[FOMOGO]

I like it Pat. It looks good. You will get a lot of use out of it when you start using it. Here is mine. I see one thing that might be a challenge on yours. My pedals bottom out on the bottom of the stand. They are at full travel without anything in the jaws when they bottom out. So you are above the stand when you are working a piece of steel. You may want to add a piece of square tubing across under the pedals to stop any over travel which will wear out the jaws. Also you need to brace under your heads like mine is done. They will flex if you don't. The pull rod in the yellow head looks to long too. You have a lot of leverage advantage with the foot pedal and you are increasing it even more with the longer pull rod. I can measure mine and give you the length on the pull rod and the pedal so you can figure the lengths. I got all my measurements off of a commercial unit that was at a shop I went to. Put a couple of small wheels on one side so that you can tip it over and roll it around...

It will get the better of you until you learn just how quickly it will move the metal. I actually push down on the short lever that the pedals pull with my hand and let the weight of the pedals do the work. Just give it a good push and the pedal will do the work for you. This is best when you only need to move the shape slightly. The foot will over power it and then its an oops... I would suggest getting some 20 gauge sheet and bending it 90 degrees and play with it until you get the feel for it. Thicker takes more effort and is slower to move. The 20 gauge will move easily and better show the actual movement when you clamp down on it. Also if it seems to be taking more effort to get the results that you want then you need to take the jaws out and clean them. When they fill up with metal they don't grip and you have to use more pressure to get the same results.

Great tool that is always in the way like a cherry picker or an engine stand until you need it. Then nothing else will do what it does.

I made the clevises on mine in the lathe with the milling attachment and the pull rod they are welded to is just a simple piece of 1/2'' conduit.

I took mine to school and made all the inner fenders for our 1/2 scale chassis project. Everybody that uses mine likes it.

Doug

If you over shrink or over stretch don't be afraid to put it in the other head and take out what you overdid. If you do this more than a couple of times it will tear the metal and make a mess so be aware of your foot pressure.

 

[mrpat]

Nice job.
Fenders, chain guard and exhaust heat shield. I don't remember who posted a thread on this, cattailhaas? Maybe FOMOGO will see this, he made his shrinker/stretcher and uses it.
I started with 20-24 gauge 1008 steel with ours.
You might as well make room for a stump, a baseball bat hammer, and a shot bag. I'm starting work on those three tools for our shop next week.
Hope this helps,
Steve

Thanks Steve. Great ideas

 

[mrpat]

I like it Pat. It looks good. You will get a lot of use out of it when you start using it. Here is mine. I see one thing that might be a challenge on yours. My pedals bottom out on the bottom of the stand. They are at full travel without anything in the jaws when they bottom out. So you are above the stand when you are working a piece of steel. You may want to add a piece of square tubing across under the pedals to stop any over travel which will wear out the jaws. Also you need to brace under your heads like mine is done. They will flex if you don't. The pull rod in the yellow head looks to long too. You have a lot of leverage advantage with the foot pedal and you are increasing it even more with the longer pull rod. I can measure mine and give you the length on the pull rod and the pedal so you can figure the lengths. I got all my measurements off of a commercial unit that was at a shop I went to. Put a couple of small wheels on one side so that you can tip it over and roll it around...

It will get the better of you until you learn just how quickly it will move the metal. I actually push down on the short lever that the pedals pull with my hand and let the weight of the pedals do the work. Just give it a good push and the pedal will do the work for you. This is best when you only need to move the shape slightly. The foot will over power it and then its an oops... I would suggest getting some 20 gauge sheet and bending it 90 degrees and play with it until you get the feel for it. Thicker takes more effort and is slower to move. The 20 gauge will move easily and better show the actual movement when you clamp down on it. Also if it seems to be taking more effort to get the results that you want then you need to take the jaws out and clean them. When they fill up with metal they don't grip and you have to use more pressure to get the same results.

Great tool that is always in the way like a cherry picker or an engine stand until you need it. Then nothing else will do what it does.

I made the clevises on mine in the lathe with the milling attachment and the pull rod they are welded to is just a simple piece of 1/2'' conduit.

I took mine to school and made all the inner fenders for our 1/2 scale chassis project. Everybody that uses mine likes it.

Doug

If you over shrink or over stretch don't be afraid to put it in the other head and take out what you overdid. If you do this more than a couple of times it will tear the metal and make a mess so be aware of your foot pressure.

Thanks Doug. I'm using 1/4" plate for the top plate, but I think I will have to gusset it. I just used scraps laying around for the stand. I was thinking of welding a nut to the base on each side so I can thread a bolt and use that for pedal adjustment.

I can always cut down the tubes that are locked into the shrinker/stretcher to make it less aggressive.

Once I got the bugs worked out, I plan on trying some simple clutch covers and fenders.

 

[danford1]

I have a shrinker-stretcher set. I used it a lot when restoring cars. I like it.
I haven't used it for a few years. I haven't done any "body" work on a minibike yet.
Mine uses short handles and not foot pedals. The handles were always plenty for what I did...

Danford1

 

[FOMOGO]

Thanks Doug. I'm using 1/4" plate for the top plate, but I think I will have to gusset it. I just used scraps laying around for the stand. I was thinking of welding a nut to the base on each side so I can thread a bolt and use that for pedal adjustment.

I can always cut down the tubes that are locked into the shrinker/stretcher to make it less aggressive.

Once I got the bugs worked out, I plan on trying some simple clutch covers and fenders.

Pat mine is 1/4'' plate with 1/4'' plate struts. They will move if you don't support them. Lots of leverage there.

 

[cattailhaas]

For me they are a must have tool. I have a Baileigh. I mostly use it for shrinking. I prefer to stretch with my planishing hammer or my True Edge nibbler shear as they don't leave the teeth marks or tend to tear the metal. There is a lot of good videos on you tube for tips and tricks. I use mine for fabricating car parts but you might remember I made some fenders for my 2017 build off bike (cat 400x modified ) I've included some pictures of a transmission cover that I shrunk the whole end down into a dome shape, before turning the bottom flange, and a inner structure of some doors I made for a 33 Ford roadster.

 

[mrpat]

For me they are a must have tool. I have a Baileigh. I mostly use it for shrinking. I prefer to stretch with my planishing hammer or my True Edge nibbler shear as they don't leave the teeth marks or tend to tear the metal. There is a lot of good videos on you tube for tips and tricks. I use mine for fabricating car parts but you might remember I made some fenders for my 2017 build off bike (cat 400x modified ) I've included some pictures of a transmission cover that I shrunk the whole end down into a dome shape, before turning the bottom flange, and a inner structure of some doors I made for a 33 Ford roadster.

WOW!
Your work is amazing!

 

[mrpat]

I painted the beast and added some 3"x3" gusstes under each side. I stuffed a piece of scrap sheet metal and messed with it a bit just to see what it'll do.

Gonna mess with it more and watch some YouTube vids.

 

[Raskin]

Molding metal by hand is art..:thumbsup: on a mini bike fender skirts might be cool..style vs cost of weight

 

[Havasu Dave]

I painted the beast and added some 3"x3" gusstes under each side. I stuffed a piece of scrap sheet metal and messed with it a bit just to see what it'll do.

Pat, what a cool tool. Ever since I watched one of the motorcycle chopper shows, I wanted one of these. I'd watch the guys make fuel tanks out of flat metal, and it seemed magic to me.

[MENTION=53722]FOMOGO[/MENTION] Doug I wasn't real excited about the idea of a metal working, or machinist heading here, but it's turned out well. Especially with guys like SAT and a few others chiming in with their experiences and cattailhaas' examples of roadster parts. I have a friend building a 33 Roadster, and he is having to buy most of that stuff. Great thread. Look forward to seeing more of this fabricated stuff.

 

[FOMOGO]

Pat, what a cool tool. Ever since I watched one of the motorcycle chopper shows, I wanted one of these. I'd watch the guys make fuel tanks out of flat metal, and it seemed magic to me.

[MENTION=53722]FOMOGO[/MENTION] Doug I wasn't real excited about the idea of a metal working, or machinist heading here, but it's turned out well. Especially with guys like SAT and a few others chiming in with their experiences and cattailhaas' examples of roadster parts. I have a friend building a 33 Roadster, and he is having to buy most of that stuff. Great thread. Look forward to seeing more of this fabricated stuff.

Dave there are a lot of talented guys here and if someone can have an "ah ha" moment and figure something out from one of these threads then its all a plus. I agree it seems an odd subject for the forum but these old bikes require Imagineering sometimes (You are good at this) and I hope more of it shows up here.

We have a metal shaping class at school. We will be taking that next year. They build full sized Motorcycle fenders out of aluminum and Café Racer style seats. He has an aluminum tank on display that is roughed in but not welded. I have discussed making a buck and fabricating Bonanza fenders with the instructor. He said that it would not be a problem to do..... I am going to find out. I talked to him about making an all steel Teardrop hood scoop for my 65 Falcon. I had a fiberglass scoop on my 64 that I drove to High School. That was a nightmare with it bonded to the steel hood. We pulled a mold off of it and made a 1 piece hood that was still on it when I sold it. I still have the old glass scoop that will be the buck for the steel version. He teaches metal finishing too so I am looking forward to that class. Hopefully the Bonanza fenders will get started soon.

Doug

 

[FOMOGO]

[MENTION=31471]mrpat[/MENTION] you might want to try tuck shrinking too. Its a time honored technique that is super simple to do.

Here is a link to some good tuck shrinking info.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=KK....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.149....0.-O-HRLZ9Rcg

You can make your own tuck shrinking tool. I good round head mallet will lock the tucks and move the metal. It a challenge that gives good results with a little practice. You can make your own tuck shrinking tool by using 2 tapered pry bars from harbor freight. Cut them in half and weld the pointed halves together then add a handle so that you can twist them on the metal. Quick and simple.

This is a good metal shaping forum if you want to take in lots of information.

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Doug